892 research outputs found
EconomicDynamics Interview: David Backus on international business cycles
No full textDavid K. Backus is the Heinz Riehl Professor of Finance and Economics at the Stern Business School of New York University. He has published extensively on International Business Cycles as well as on Foreign Exchange Theory. In particular, he teamed with Patrick Kehoe and Finn Kydland to launch the current research agenda around international real business cycle (IRBC) models.
Are big charities becoming more dominant? Cross-sectional and longitudinal perspectives
No full textThere is a debate surrounding the implications of big charities’ increasing dominance of total charitable income, but no empirical work which assesses whether indeed big charities are becoming increasingly dominant. We provide this assessment from both cross‐sectional and longitudinal perspectives, using a panel data set with information on charities’ income in England and Wales between 1997 and 2008. From a cross‐sectional perspective, examining trends in income concentration ratios, there is no evidence that the biggest charities account for a growing share of total charity income over the period of analysis. However, the longitudinal perspective, which relates income growth over the period to initial size, shows that initially large charities have significantly higher median relative growth rates than the initially small. Substantively, these results are relevant to government plans for the ‘Big Society’, which rest in part on the ability of smaller, community‐based charities as well as the bigger voluntary bodies to thrive and grow. Methodologically, for studies which examine trends in the distribution of income, these results illustrate the additional insights that are provided by the longitudinal perspective which cannot be inferred from repeated cross‐sectional information
Consumption and Real Exchange Rates in Professional Forecasts
No full textStandard models of international risk sharing with complete asset markets predict a positive association between relative consumption growth and real exchange-rate depreciation across countries. The striking lack of evidence for this link the consumption/real-exchange-rate anomaly or Backus-Smith puzzle - has prompted research on risk-sharing indicators with incomplete asset markets. That research generally implies that the association holds in forecasts, rather than realizations. Using professional forecasts for 28 countries for 1990-2008 we find no such association, thus deepening the puzzle. Independent evidence on the weak link between forecasts for consumption and real interest rates suggests that the presence of 'hand-to-mouth' consumers may help to resolve the anomaly.
Web interface for "Dynamics of the Trade Balance and the Terms of Trade: The J-Curve?"
No full textThis is a version of the program used in David Backus, Patrick Kehoe and Finn Kydland, "Dynamics of the Trade Balance and the Terms of Trade: The J-Curve?," American Economic Review, vol. 84, pp. 84-103, Mar. 1994 The parameter values have to be specified in a separate file.
A short description of the difference between the bond-woman and the free, as they are the two covenants. With the characters and condition of each of their children. / By Isaac Backus, Pastor of a church in Middleborough. ; [Two lines of quotations]
No full text83, [1] p. ; 18 cm. (8vo)Edition statement transposed; precedes "By Isaac Backus ..." on title page.The appendix, p. [46]-83, is in reply to Ebenezer Frothingham's "A letter treating upon the subject and mode of baptism."Errata statement, p. 83.Advertisement for works "Published by the author of this pamphlet, and sold by Philip Freeman, in Union-Street, Boston, and by Thomas Green, in Newport."--p. [84]
On Backus average in modelling guided waves
No full textThis thesis is a collection of five research papers. The first two are related to the Backus
average. The second two are about guided waves. The fifth ties the two topics together.
In the first paper we derive expressions for elasticity parameters of a homogeneous
generally anisotropic medium that is long-wave-equivalent to a stack of thin generally anisotropic
layers, and examine the mathematical underpinnings of the formulation.
In the second paper we examine commutativity and noncommutativity of translational
averages over a spatial variable and rotational averages over a symmetry group at a point. In
general there is no commutativity but for weak anisotropy, which is common in near-surface
seismology, there is approximate commutativity.
In the third paper we review forward-modelling expressions for Love and quasi-Rayleigh
waves and examine the sensitivity of Love and quasi-Rayleigh waves to model parameters.
In the fourth paper we perform a Pareto Joint Inversion, using Particle Swarm Optimization,
of synthetic dispersion curve data to obtain model parameters including densities,
elasticity parameters, and layer thickness.
In the fifth paper we tie together the two topics of Backus average and guided waves
by examining the applicability of the Backus average in modelling of guided waves. As
expected, the Backus average is applicable only for low frequencies and/or thin layers and
the results become worse when there is a strong nonalternating vertical inhomogeneity with
near-surface low-velocity layers.Includes bibliographical references
The Great Wars, The Great Crash, and the Unit Root Hypothesis: Some New Evidence About an Old Stylized Fact
No full textFor decades, the prevailing sentiment among economists was that growth rates remain constant over the long run. Kaldor considered this to be one of the six important 'stylized facts' that theory should address, and until the emergence of endogenous growth models, this was a fundamental feature of growth theory. This paper uses an endogenous trend break model to investigate the unit root hypothesis for 16 countries, using annual GDP data spanning up to 130 years. Rejection of the unit root, which is facilitated by the inclusion of a trend break, introduces the possibility of examining the long run behavior of growth rates. We find that most countries exhibited fairly steady growth for a period lasting several decades. The termination of this period was usually characterized by a significant, and sudden, drop in GDP levels. But rather than simply returning to their previous steady state path, as predicted by the standard neoclassical growth model, most countries continued to grow at roughly double their prebreak rates for many decades, even after their original growth path had been surpassed.
Kitchen, B. Yoshimoto (English translation by Megan Backus)
No full text"Kitchen" is a 1988 novel by Japanese author Banana Yoshimoto. This novel enjoyed enormous popularity in the anglophone world (when it was published in English, in Megan Backus' 1993 translation), and is still very widely read. These 3 files include the beginning of the novel. Please print them out (or save them to your laptop/ tablet) so you can bring them to class when we start on Ideational Meanings
Three friends' fancies ...
No full textVerses by E.W.B., J.C. and E.A.G.C. (i.e. Elizabeth Welch Backus, Jannet Carruthers, and Ella A. Germain Carruthers)Mode of access: Internet
Georges Bank
No full text© The Author(s), 1987. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Backus, Richard H. (1987). Georges Bank. Massachusetts Institute of Technology.Georges Bank provides a basic and indispensable reference tool for anyone involved in studying the bank or in making decisions about its use.
Until now debates about alternative uses of the bank have been hampered by the fact that much of the basic research has been available only to specialists and has been scattered among many publications. In bringing the available information on this complex region together for the first time, Georges Bank provides a basic and indispensable reference tool for anyone involved in studying the bank or in making decisions about its use. Moreover, the depth and clarity of the book's 57 articles and 8 nontechnical introductions will make it useful for anyone involved in oceanographic or ocean policy studies.Sections cover all aspects of this huge marine ecosystem - geology, weather and climate, physical oceanography, chemistry, phytoplankton, primary production, zoology and secondary production, the fisheries, and conflicting uses. Georges Bank is the first major project of the Coastal Research Center of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. The editor-in-chief, Richard H. Backus, is chairman of the Institutions's biology department. Includes 176 six-color maps, 54 four-color illustrations - 392 charts, graphs, and drawings
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